


Still You

by pidgeotto_gunderson



Series: VLD Season 2 Fix-It's [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Galra Keith (Voltron), Hugs, I suppose, M/M, Mild Angst, Season 2 Fix-It, Season/Series 02, Unbetad whoops, anyway, but im not bitter, dont get me wrong i loved season 2 but like, i dont know how to tag this honestly, i just needed to get this out, its like softcore angst, klance could be taken as platonic or romantic, lance is an actual character who actually exists, post-The Blade of Marmora, so im filling it in you're welcome, spoilers obviously, still not bitter i swear, the galra keith reveal that shOULDVE HAPPENED, the klance hug we all deserve, there was a lot missing, unlike in s2 of vld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-18 23:23:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9407441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pidgeotto_gunderson/pseuds/pidgeotto_gunderson
Summary: Season 2 Fix-It, making up for the lack of a Galra!Keith reveal





	

**Author's Note:**

> i've had this idea stuck in my head ever since i finished the season and had to write it out so i could get back to the other stuff i'm supposed to be writing whoops. also no one's beta'd and i wrote a lot of this at like 1-2 am so pls feel free to point out any mistakes
> 
> also hmu on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/pidgeotto-gunderson)

Keith stands in front of his team, six pairs of eyes burning holes in him. His hands are shaking as he holds the knife out in front of him, hilt towards his teammates, and his stomach twists as Allura walks towards him, slowly, cautiously, and stares at the symbol.

“I’m -” Keith starts, swallows hard, blinks back tears. “I’m one of them.” His voice is much steadier than he’d anticipated. He’s grateful for small miracles. “I have Galra blood. I don’t know how far back it goes, I don’t - I have no idea what my lineage is. But I’m…one of them.”

  
The emotions pan out gradually - shock, confusion, disbelief - and different faces settle on different emotions. Fear is a popular one. Allura, Coran, and Pidge have landed on varying degrees of alarm. Shiro is stoic, having already known, but Keith can still see the internal battle waging in his head. Hunk seems unable to decide between disbelief and worry.

Lance, on the other hand, is completely nonchalant.

Keith finds himself staring at Lance, just because his reaction is the easiest to watch. Arms folded across his chest, hips cocked to one side, peering at Keith with an almost calculating gaze. Everyone else’s feelings are evident, painted on their faces, but Keith can’t tell what Lance is thinking. He never seems to be able to.

Then Allura is talking, her voice low, and Keith bites down on his lip so hard that he tastes blood. “You - you’re Galra.” It’s almost like she’s testing it out, getting a feel for the discovery. Keith sheathes his knife and wrings the sleeve of his jacket with one hand. She steps forward and it’s almost threatening. “The Galra destroyed my home. Killed my family.”

Shiro reaches out, touches Allura’s elbow. She jerks away like she’s been burned, but Shiro isn’t deterred. “Princess, maybe we should think about this -”

“No!” Allura takes another step forward; Keith takes two back. “You - your _kind_ took away everything I had. Your _kind_ -” And Keith can’t comprehend anything after that because Allura hates him, and Shiro probably hates him too, and _they’re all going to hate him._

Lance moves, then, and Keith’s first instinct is to clutch the knife on his hip - but no, Lance is turning his back to Keith, facing Allura and the rest of the team. Holding an arm out in front of Keith and saying, “What the _quiznak_ is wrong with you all?”

Keith’s whole world comes to a halt, in that moment, because Lance’s stance is defensive, shielding, _protective_.

“Lance, move -”

“No.” Lance looks back at Keith; they lock eyes for a second, and Lance’s gaze is searching, scanning Keith’s face for _something_. He seems to find it because he nods almost imperceptibly and turns his scathing gaze back on Allura. “You do realize, _Princess_ , that this is _Keith_ we’re talking about, right?”

Surprise crosses Allura’s face for a moment, morphs into displeasure. She opens her mouth, but Lance cuts her off again. “This isn’t some Galra soldier that we’ve never met before. This is our teammate, our -” a split second of hesitation - “Our friend. He’s fought right alongside us, been with us in _everything_ , but you still doubt him just because he’s found out his heritage?”

Keith tugs on Lance’s sleeve, whispers, “You don’t have to do this.” But Lance moves back to stand in line with him and continues. “You expect us to do whatever it takes to defend the universe, which, by the way, _none of us signed up for_ , but here we see that there’s no basic trust on your end. I mean, really, have we not already figured out that _DNA doesn’t make a person.”_

Shiro starts to say, “Lance -”

  
“ _Don’t_ , Shiro. Seriously, Allura, you’re great and all, but this is insane. It’s _Keith_ , for Christ’s sake. Whether he has Galra blood or not, he’s still Keith. He’s still a Paladin. And he’s still one of us.”

Keith watches all of this with bleary eyes and a tremble going through his entire body. Lance grabs his hand and Keith is pretty sure he’s somehow ended up in a different reality. “Princess Allura, you can hate Keith solely on a screwed-up principle all you want, but if that’s how it’s going to be, then you can find another Blue Paladin.”

  
Allura flinches. Pidge, Hunk, and Coran all gasp, and even Shiro sucks in a breath. Lance ignores it all, instead looking to Keith. “Keith. Buddy. You get that you’re still just you, right?” Keith blinks, opens his mouth, then closes it again, and just nods, not trusting himself to speak. “Heritage doesn’t make you who you are. Your choices decide who you are, okay? It doesn’t matter if you have Galra DNA. You’re still you.”

  
Keith can’t breathe.

He can’t breathe past the lump in his throat, and he can’t see past the tears in his eyes, but he’s nodding, nodding and smiling and sniffling and realizing that there’s so much more to Lance than meets the eye.

“If any one of you has _anything_ to say to Keith,” Lance almost, _almost_ yells, spinning around again, “you can go through me first.” He jabs a finger at Allura, still holding Keith’s hand. “And _you_ , Allura - if you do anything, _say_ anything, anything _at_ _all_ , to Keith, you're not only losing him, but…” He stares down each of their teammates individually, like he’s daring them to start something. “…you’re losing me, too.”

It’s silent. For a full minute, at least. Keith definitely can’t breathe now, afraid that if he makes a sound, even something near-silent, he’ll break the fragile balance of _whatever this is._

Keith counts, _sixty_ - _three_ , _sixty_ - _four_ , _sixty_ - _five_ , and then Hunk is at his other side. “You lose me, too, Allura. Keith, you're my friend and I know you're a good person. You're a Paladin, no matter what.” Keith’s grip on Lance’s hand tightens and he shoots Hunk a grateful look.

PIdge joins them next, standing next to Lance. “Me too. The Galra captured my brother and my dad, but…” She glances over at Keith; they share a tiny smile, and she finishes, “you’re not one of them, Keith, DNA be damned. I trust you.”

He's crying, silent tears streaming down his face, and there's a hand on his shoulder.

“Keith,” Shiro starts. His voice is level, giving away nothing. Keith tastes blood in his mouth. “I've been through a lot of bad things with the Galra.” Keith bows his head, unable to look Shiro in the eyes. “And yes, you have Galra blood. But that doesn't matter.”

Keith’s head jerks up, vision blurry, brain muddled. Shiro’s eyes are kind. “You're family, Keith. And no amount of Galra blood is going to change that.”

He stares at the man who's been his only family for so long and hopes that his face portrays everything he can't say. Shiro squeezes his shoulder and Keith knows he's going to be okay.

Ten seconds pass. Fifteen. Thirty.

Allura walks out of the room.

Coran says, “We need to prepare for our next mission.”

Keith lets out the breath he’d been holding as the other Paladins pat him on the back and follow Coran to the control room.

And Lance nudges Keith in the ribs, leans over, whispers in his ear, “You're cutting off the circulation to my hand.”

Keith jumps, looks at Lance, then down to their linked hands. Realizes that his knuckles have gone white and quickly lets go. “I - sorry.” His voice shakes and his hands shake and everything is shaking.

Lance smiles at him (definitely an alternate reality) and that in itself is grounding. “All good, buddy.” Then, suddenly all seriousness, “Do you wanna stay here? I can tell the others that you're not feeling well or something, you can take a minute.”

“No, no, I -” The protests come automatically, but then he pictures the look on Allura’s face only minutes ago and stops. “Actually, I, uh. I think I will stay here for a bit.” He really does feel sick now.

“Okay,” Lance responds, sympathetic, but not exactly worried. “Take all the time you need, Keith.” He starts toward the control room.

Keith fully intends to let him go, really, but Lance gets halfway to the door and there's a slight change of plan.

“Wait!” Lance has barely managed to turn around before Keith barrels into him, throwing his arms around Lance’s neck. His feet come clear off the ground as Lance stumbles back a couple steps, but Lance steadies them quickly, hesitantly wrapping his arms around Keith’s waist in return.

“I - are you, uh -” Lance’s lips move against Keith’s neck, his breath tickles Keith ear. “You okay, there, man?”

“Yes.”

“You sure? We've never, ah, hugged before.”

“I'm just fine, Lance.” His face is buried in Lance shoulder, his fingers are tangled in Lance’s jacket, and Keith hasn't felt this warm for a long time.

“Um, I should probably -” Lance begins; Keith shushes him.

They stay there, quietly breathing each other’s air, for a few more seconds.

Keith breathes, “ _Thank_ _you_.”

He feels more than hears Lance chuckle. “I just said what needed to be said.”

Keith hugs him tighter. “Would you just shut up and let me be grateful for once?”

Lance full-on laughs, directly in Keith’s ear, and it's wonderful.

“Sure thing, Keith.”

Lance smells like salt water and the beach, and Keith has never been the biggest fan of the ocean, but now he thinks he might just be wrong about a lot of things. But he'll figure all that out later - right now, he's in the moment and he's still Keith (still you, still you, still you, Keith) and -

“You're welcome.”

\- and he's okay.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i'm seriously considering making a series of vld season 2 fix-it's because this season was majorly disappointing when it came to certain things (read: lance and hunk's entire existences). even though i have way too much other stuff to write already ayeee i'm totally making a series out of this because i have no self-control


End file.
